A common guitar playing practice involves the use of a slide bar that is used to effectively change the critical contact point of the string set as the strings are vibrating to provide special sound characteristics.
Tube type slides are commonly employed that consist of a glass or metal tube that is placed over a finger. This effectively allows the player to play in the traditional underhand Spanish manner, but with only the remaining three fingers, since the tube prevents joint articulation. In view of this disadvantage, shorter tubes or rings have been proposed that permit a certain amount to freedom of movement of the finger on which they are fitted. However, these shortened tubes or rings tend to be too short to cover the entire width of the guitar neck, and an exacting pressure technique must be developed by the player to achieve the proper sustain with such a low mass in proximity to the string. Sustain is defined as the time of vibration of a plucked guitar string.
Canadian Patent Nos. 279,758 (issued Jul. 15, 1924 to Patterson), 406,415 (issued Nov. 20, 1934 to Carter), and 797,503 (issued Oct. 29, 1968 to Smith) teach various slide bars shaped to facilitate use on a Hawaiian type of guitar (for example, fretless lap steel guitars that are traditionally played in an overhand manner). These slide bars were made with considerable mass to facilitate sustain of a singularly plucked guitar string.
Carter and Smith also show that the slide bar can be attached to a ring. However, these devices were intended to be used in an overhead manner. In particular, Smith teaches the use of the slide on a "Mello-Bar" guitar that has no frets and is intended to be played in an overhead manner, whether the player is sitting or standing. It is virtually impossible to use these devices while playing in the traditional underhand Spanish fashion in a manner leaving others fingers free to fret notes in a traditional way. In fact, the Carter slide actually impedes more than one finger of the fretting hand, which is extremely undesirable.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a slide bar that remains unobtrusive to traditional Spanish or Classical playing styles; maintains the freedom and usability of all fingers of the fretting hand; and enables selective employment of the slide bar during slide passages. Further, it would be desirable to provide a slide that would reduce the need for the player to develop exact pressure skills.